Kayla’s Corner~Facing Fears

“I love your writing style, Kay, and I know that if you set some writing goals you can write a book next year.” I’m sure you all recognize my mother’s make-a-list-set-a-goal attitude as much as I did. Before I could run, Mom sprung this inspirational get-to-it on me.
“Maybe a children’s book or a novella…”
Like I said in my first post, I jump to new thoughts so quickly I don’t know if I have the patience for a book.
My first book was Makayla’s Life Lessons when I was like, four. (Presh, right?) Then I wrote one called The Trip 2 China about two girls who go through a turquoise room to travel. Who needs airplanes anyway?

As many books as I’ve started, I’ve wondered why I’ve put off actually finishing one.
I think that I finally figured it out; I’m scared.
Honestly, that’s it. I’m terrified of failing.
I think that’s understandable. Not to excuse myself, but I only know a few people who do things without worrying if they’ll do it right.
I get it. I’ve been going on and on about facing your fears when I’m still afraid of facing mine.
I know I can write well. It’s in my blood. I just need to face my fear of failing. Face my fear of embarrassment. I can do this. I can’t afford to doubt myself. I need to write.
I will try and write a book, sometime in the next one to two years.
I think I’ll call it… Adventures in Reality.
Maybe it’s about a girl who lives every day in a fantasy world. It could be one of those falling-into-a-fantasy books, except flipped!
(insert lightbulb here)
Or maybe something completely different…
I’m hoping to have a rough draft done by the end of 2019 and released maybe in 2020?
*Scratch that. Mom says that ‘hoping’ and ‘maybe’ don’t belong in goals.
Apparently I need a concrete timeline.*
After all, it’s only a dream until you write it down, then it becomes a goal.
(You can tell that’s from my mom, right? Thought so.)
Soooooooo… I WILL have a rough draft done by 12/31/19 and I WILL publish it in 2020.
No matter how scared I am, I’m throwing this out there so that you guys can hold me accountable if I slack off and/or get caught up in my oh-so-busy 6th grade agenda.
Moral of the story being this; don’t be afraid to face your fears.
(Am I the only one who finds that sentence ironic?)
Do something you’re scared of.
Once you stop letting people define your fears, you don’t need to be afraid of anything. If I tell myself that I’m not afraid of bombing this whole book idea, I will probably meet my deadline and maybe even go on to write another one. (Mom, that’s not to say I don’t think that I can meet my deadline, but for the sake of the example…)
Don’t let your fears stop you from pursuing your dreams.
Don’t be ‘afraid’ of something because someone tells you how scary it is.

In the spirit of setting goals and facing fears, I’m committing to a weekly post every Wednesday. Again, you guys have to hold me accountable to this. If I miss a week, feel free to blow up the phone that I don’t have.

#faceyourfears
#wisebeyondmyyears